Vanilla Bean Cream Soda

May 8, 2013May 9, 2013 ~ Crystle ~ 5 Comments

Record heat swept through our area earlier this week. You’d think that since I’m from Bakersfield, a city with some of the hottest summer days in the nation, I could swing the heat, no problem…this is not the case.

You see, in Bakersfield, CA we had this wonderful invention called the air conditioner. It’s a foreign concept up here in Washington state, mainly because they’d only be in use for a few days every summer. Our house is a two story, equipped with zero cool-air-emitting contraptions, making the days a little toasty when the temperatures surpass 80 like they did on Monday. Whoa, 80 degrees? Yeah, I know. Sweltering.

I’m probably the only person in Washington wishing for the rain to return. Fortunately, the temps dropped back down into the 70s, and rain is on the horizon (which reminds me, I’m pretty sure I’m going to love the cold weather in Alaska!).

This pop came to my attention when searching for a vanilla bean based beverage to take the edge off these warm summer days sans A/C. The original recipe, from Cheeky Kitchen, calls for granulated white sugar. I chose to use Agave nectar to sweeten it instead, since it’s a low glycemic sweetener. It absorbs into the body slower, preventing spikes in blood sugar. I kicked my pregnancy-influenced sugar habit recently, and didn’t want to completely relapse.

Vanilla Bean Cream Soda Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup Organic Blue Agave Nectar

1 Vanilla Bean – caviar stripped

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1/4 teaspoon Almond Extract

1 QT Sparkling Water – Chilled

Directions:

Slice vanilla bean lengthwise, use paring knife or spoon to scrape vanilla bean caviar into a large pitcher.

Add Agave nectar, and extracts to the vanilla bean caviar and mix thoroughly.

Add sparkling soda slowly.

Notes:

The caviar will separate from the mixture and float to the top. If you plan on serving immediately, I recommend topping the pitcher with copious amounts of ice. This re-integrates the caviar into the drink. Or, hold a spatula over the spout while pouring over ice in individual glasses to limit the amount of caviar going into each glass. This seemed to work for me.

Shelf life is about a 24 hours since the carbonation tends to disappear slightly with each pour.

Bonus!: to enhance your porch-sitting, spike this soda with white rum. It’s insanely delicious.

Procession of the Species

April 30, 2013July 22, 2013 ~ Crystle ~ 9 Comments

On a scale of one to ten of crunchiness, I am a solid four. I wear Chacos with skirts when the weather is nice, I enjoy hiking and camping, and I recycle diligently. I used to compost back in Oklahoma, but since the garbage disposal came into my life, composing, for me, has gone the way of the dodo.

My suburban sympathies have increased lately, mainly because after too many college years living in virtual squalor, or living sustainably as I used to say, having a new home in a beautifully manicured neighborhood is a luxury I don’t want to give up. I’m also a mom now. That’s my crunch-factor explained.

My love for Olympia, WA runs deep, probably because its residents are crunchy to every degree, delightfully so. The scale of normalcy is tipped in this area: you have your hardcore vegans, deadheads, potheads, animal-lovers, retired liberals, young adult leftist-liberals, off-the-griders, music junkies…the list goes on and on. Regardless of their subtle differences, this weekend they all combined forces to celebrate Life in the Procession of the Species in downtown Olympia.

A friend told me about the Procession of the Species going on this last weekend, which I hadn’t heard of before. The website describes it as a ‘joyous, spontaneous artistic pageant where community members celebrate their relationships with each other and with the natural world’.

Locals create costumes of creatures and dance, march and parade through the streets as a sort of nod to Mother Earth. Twice a year this Procession goes on, once in Spring and once in Fall.

I was super impressed by the creativity and effort that went into the floats, and costumes — many of which utilized recycled materials. Particularly interesting were the large scale floats depicting a whale, giraffe, sea slug, and virus. I’m still wondering how many plastic bags went into the weaving of the whale.

Flamingos on stilts, hopping frogs, and dancing flies all punctuated the lively procession. Participants of all ages (even babies in carriers!) animated the colorful costumes, in a fun and celebratory way.

And true to Oly form, vendors on location sold vegan sweets and healthy eats. Isaac and I split a chicken & vegetable plate from the Quinoa Kings. It was impeccable street food, the likes of which I haven’t seen in Bakersfield, CA or Norman, OK, the two less crunchy cities I’ve lived in.

For this, and many other reasons, Olympia, WA is a strong contender for the city we plan to retire in.

A Picnic-Worthy Fruit Salad

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013 ~ Crystle ~ 3 Comments

Here I am, five weeks postpartum and I’m going through some serious sugar withdrawals. They’re bad. The irritability and cookie cravings are out of control, I tell you.

Pregnancy was super fun because I enjoyed a faster metabolism and eating under the guise of ‘hormones’. I gained a sturdy 29 lbs over the 41+ weeks I was pregnant, and it’s unfortunately not coming off as quickly as I had anticipated. I even started exercising again, but it’s not nearly as easy as I remember it (especially after a cesarean!). Isaac and I were up to 10 miles on our long-distance runs when I found out I was pregnant. Now I can hardly complete one full mile. It’s discouraging.

Knowing what had to be done (as it never should have begun), I decided to kick my cookie, ice cream and candy habit. At least until the next pregnancy, wink-wink.

I remember trying to kick my life-long sugar habit in college, and I did it with this fruit salad. It’s become my signature bring-along over the last 8 years since it truly never disappoints. Preparing this fruit salad brings back fond memories of music festivals, barbecues, hiking trips, and potlucks. Each event was the perfect occasion to bring along this fruit salad.

It’s incredibly simple, and healthy, and requires basic ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.

I’ll be chowing down on this until I can see my sugar cravings in the rear-view mirror.

My Picnic-Worthy Fruit Salad “Recipe”

Ingredients

1 Large Honey Crisp apple, or 3 small ones. This should total 2-3 cups.

1-2 Bananas, depending on size. I prefer to buy the longer ones.

1 single-serve container of Greek Vanilla Yogurt, approximately 5 ounces.

2/3 cup Granola, I always use Kashi’s Go Lean Crunch.

Directions

1. Chop apples into bite size pieces.

2. Slice banana into bite size pieces.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine apples, bananas, and yogurt. Mix until coated evenly.

4. Sprinkle granola mixture over the top of the salad, and serve.

Notes

-Keep the granola separate until you’re ready to serve, if you mix it in prematurely, and the fruit salad sits for a period of time, the granola gets soggy.

-The ratio of apples to bananas should be roughly 1:1.

-I’ve always used vanilla yogurt, feel free to try out Strawberry, Orange, or another fruit-flavored yogurt instead.

-Kashi Go Lean Crunch is a staple around my house, if you have another granola based cereal, or snack at hand, feel free to try it out instead.

-Tart Apples tend to do this dish an injustice, I highly recommend sticking with Honey Crisp or Red Delicious.

-You can also throw in some grapes, or strawberries, but just like the childhood song, I like to eat apples & bananas.

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